Abstract
Since the last systematic review of Chiroderma (big-eyed bats) more than two decades ago, we report on biodiversity surveys that expand the distribution and species diversity of this Neotropical genus. The Caribbean endemic species Chiroderma improvisum is documented for the first time from Nevis in the northern Lesser Antilles. A broader geographic sampling for a molecular analysis identifies a paraphyletic relationship in Chiroderma trinitatum with respect to Chiroderma doriae. Cis-Andean populations of C. trinitatum are most closely related to the morphologically distinctive and allopatrically distributed C. doriae in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest of Brazil and Paraguay. The sister taxon to this grouping includes trans-Andean populations of C. trinitatum, which we recommend to elevate to species status as C. gorgasi. This is an example of a cryptic species because C. gorgasi was previously considered morphologically similar to C. trinitatum, but more detailed examination revealed that it lacks a posterolabial accessory cusp on the lower second premolar and has a narrower breadth of the braincase. We provide an amended description of Chiroderma gorgasi.
Highlights
Cryptic species, phenotypically similar organisms that are classified as a single species but are genetically divergent lineages, are being discovered at a greater rate due to the increasing prevalence of molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding (e.g., Hebert et al 2004)
We report the first occurrence of Chiroderma improvisum (Fig. 1) from Nevis in the northern Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean
The unexpected result was the paraphyly of C. trinitatum in relation to C. doriae
Summary
Phenotypically similar organisms that are classified as a single species but are genetically divergent lineages, are being discovered at a greater rate due to the increasing prevalence of molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding (e.g., Hebert et al 2004). At typical lowland tropical forest sites, bats comprise the majority of mammal species diversity (Voss and Emmons 1996), so more species are expected to be recognized in this group as traditional taxonomic hypotheses are tested by genetic techniques. The genus currently comprises six species (Simmons 2005, Taddei and Lim 2010): C. doriae Thomas, 1891 occurs in central-eastern Brazil and Paraguay; C. improvisum Baker & Genoways, 1976 is endemic to the Lesser Antillean islands of Guadeloupe, Montserrat, and Saint Kitts (Beck et al 2016); C. salvini Dobson, 1878 is found from Mexico to Bolivia (recent records from Brazil are misidentifications of C. villosum Peters, 1860 – see Brandão et al 2019); C. trinitatum Goodwin, 1958 is distributed from Honduras (Turcios-Casco et al 2020) and Costa Rica to Amazonian Brazil and Trinidad; C. villosum ranges from Mexico to southeastern Brazil and Trinidad; and C. vizottoi Taddei & Lim, 2010 is found only in northeastern Brazil
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